Governor Jerry Brown was busy in September completing his review of bills that made their way to his desk after the Legislature concluded its 2018 session on August 31.

As the conversation around healthcare revolves heavily upon reining in costs, a new study out of the National Bureau of Economic Research has been able to focus on how “defensive medicine” contributes to the costs.

The 2019 Proposed Rule for Year Three of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) under the Quality Payment Program (QPP) has been published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS). Notable in this latest release is that while previous years’ regulations for the QPP have been released independently, for calendar year 2019 CMS has included proposed rules for the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS).

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has certified California’s Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES). Effective October 2, 2018, it will become mandatory for all health care practitioners to consult and review the CURES 2.0 system prior to prescribing, ordering, administering, or furnishing a Schedule II-IV controlled substance.

A federal official has expressed hope that healthcare researchers and professionals will continue to have some kind of substitute resource following the scheduled July 16 shutdown of the National Guidelines Clearinghouse.